Shiki
by rajikka
Summary: Small town, cursed woods, mysterious disappearances, unexplained deaths, vampire-like creatures calling themselves "Shiki" ….How do they keep getting into these messes? (AU, Pairings: Romerica, Gerita, Prucan, among others)
1. First Blood

**Shiki**

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

Warnings: AU, Vampires/Shiki, multiple pairings (boy/boy being prevalent), coarse language, violence, and excessive references to blood (because there's Vamps, so…duh).

This was loosely based on the Shiki series, but I pulled in other Vampire sources, Ancient Roman traditions, Foreboding Fairy Tales, and bird food recipes to…you know, make it more unique. Or insane. We'll see.

First chapter is freakishly long to give you some background, so sorry about that. The other chapters should be about half the size of this one!

* * *

"Fratello! Fratello! Can you read this to me?"

"Why do you want me to read it? You're 16, you can read fine."

The younger of the Vargas brothers poured on the pout and puffed his cheeks out.

"I can read it on my own, but it sounds better the way you read it!"

Lovino sighed, but complied. He flipped open the book, grumbling that nobody would believe him if he told them the great heir to the Vargas family likes having others read him bedtime stories. Feliciano didn't seem to hear this, as he snuggled beside his brother on the bed.

"Once upon a fucking time…"

"Fratello!"

"Fine. Once upon a time, in the lands of Eternia, existed a small village called Dawncrest..."

…_It was nestled on the boarder of the great kingdom and the mysterious forest. No one dared cross deep into the forest, for it was thought to be cursed. The few that managed to return came back as a very different person. They screamed, cowered, and fled from their loved ones. They could see things others couldn't and it terrified them. The forest had made them go mad…_

"_What happened to Papa?" asked a boy to his mother. _

_The woman could only look down in sadness and grief. Her husband had gone into the forest to help find the missing men. That had been over a week ago; he'd yet to return. _

_The mayor of Dawncrest issued many warnings to his people. He forbade anyone from going into the forest. They didn't know what was causing the madness and didn't want to lose any more of their people to the curse. The people obeyed their mayor and tried to go on living their normal lives. _

_When the boy's mother grew ill from grief, there was little he could do. They had been a happy family, but a poor one. The boy knew they couldn't afford the doctor and didn't know what herbs to combine for medicine. He traveled to the outskirts of the town, where he ran into the hooded girl who lived alone in the cottage on the edge of Dawncrest. The villagers believed she was odd and had strange ways, so they ignored her. However, the boy was desperate to save his mother and told her his troubles. _

_He asked what to do and she taught him a song. The hooded girl instructed him to sing it to his mother to raise her spirits once more. The boy had never heard of a song healing the sick like that, but was willing to try anything. He thanked her and ran home to his mother. Sitting beside her bed, the boy sang the song taught to him by the hooded girl. He poured all his feelings of hope and love into the song and slowly his mother began to rise. By the end of the song, light was restored to her eyes and she embraced her son. They were happy. _

Feliciano softly blew his nose and returned his gaze to his brother. The older Vargas could only roll his eyes.

_Then one day, a pack of feral wolves suddenly attacked the town. This had never happened before. The wolves lived in the forest, but had never attacked a human settlement before. The madness was spreading. _

"_I will fight for Papa!" the boy insisted when the wolves began attacking. _

_Without warning, he ran out of the house with his father's sword. He had only wanted to help the village and make his father proud. Before his disappearance, his father had been teaching him to hunt. He wanted to be brave. He wanted to be strong. _

"_These are no ordinary monsters…" warned the hooded girl he passed. He ignored her. He wanted to be a brave hunter like his father._

_Her words rang true when he encountered the savage wolves. They fought with a frenzy unheard of. Hunters kept piercing them with arrows and swords, but the beasts continued to rise. The boy did not know what to do. He tried to fight, but his sword was knocked away from him. He trembled in fright. A wolf chased him and he ran for his life. _

Lovino ignored his brother gasping in surprise that should not have been there.

"_We light candles at night to keep the darkness away…That is when light burns brightest."_

_The boy heard his father's voice in his head. It gave him an idea and he began running towards the town square. He narrowly made it and found what he was looking for – an oil drum. _

_Without wasting a moment, he opened it. The wolves were nearly upon him as he knocked it over, spilling its contents in their path. Taking his trusty flint, the boy lit the fire. The mad beasts did not realize his plan – 3 were engulfed when they failed to give up the hunt. It had been a success! Hunters dealt with the remaining pack while the remaining townsfolk helped the boy put out the fire before it spread._

_That night, he received many congratulations and praise from the village. They told him he was a fine hunter and brought great pride to his family. However, it was the hooded girl that told him what he truly had wanted to hear. _

"_You did well, clever boy. You are not a warrior, but that is fine. If you had fought, you would have lost. If you had fled, you would have died. By using your wits, you survived and won. Battles are not always won by brute force. Your Papa is proud, I'm sure." _

"_Thank you!" the boy said quickly, for his parents had taught him to be respectful. "You tried to help me earlier and I should have listened. Who are you?" _

_All she did was smile and fade back into the shadows of the celebration party for the brave hunters and the boy. _

_This did not solve everything, however. The forest was still unsafe and soon the town was again. It had been weeks since the last trading caravan had visited. In fact, it had been even longer since anyone had entered the village. No living soul had passed through their village entrance in almost a month. No one was able to exit either. It was like the town was encased in a strange spell. As time went by, the supplies were slowly depleting and the townspeople were getting worried. It wasn't long before that worry turned into a madness of its own. The boy watched as they stopped looking for a solution and started looking for someone to blame. _

"_It must be that dark girl! The witch!" they cried. _

"_She is surely responsible for this!" _

"_She must pay for this!" _

"No! She's innocent!" Feliciano shrieked.

"Feli, this is the 896th time we've read this…I _know_!"

"Eheh…Sorry, fratello!"

"Che…now, where was I…?"

_The hooded girl was taken from her home and forced on trial. The mayor demanded that she testify and confess her sins. She said nothing. _

"_You will not confess?" he shouted, enraged. "Then what foolish words will you choose to defend yourself with?!" _

_She said nothing. _

_The boy looked up from the bench he shared with his mother. He desperately hoped she would speak up and tell the village she was innocent. He knew she was. The girl was a little different than they were and kept to herself; but she never did anything to hurt anyone. She had even tried to warn him about the savage wolves when they attacked to help him. She was innocent!_

_After the trial, the girl was sentenced to a jail cell until she confessed to her crimes. The boy visited her each night, bringing her food and water. He would talk to her and tell her that he still believed in her. He apologized for the others, saying he wished he could do more to help her. He asked why she refused to speak anymore. Each time she would smile to show her gratitude, but say nothing. _

_The boy looked to the sky for answers each night, but until this night he was only able to see, not observe. For when he began to observe, he gazed into the sky and saw his favorite constellation of The Hunter was shining above him. This should have been impossible. His father always taught him the sky must share its stars with all the people of the world. The stars must go on a journey to travel the world and spread their light. This is why The Hunter only visits them in the early spring. The boy rubbed his eyes and it was still there. How could this be? It was late summer; The Hunter should be on his journey around the world._

_On the 4__th__ night of her imprisonment, the boy told her what he had seen in the unmoving sky. Something must be affecting Dawncrest. He asked her what he could do to save her and the others. She smiled at his cleverness and pointed to the key to her cell behind him. The boy had a choice – he chose to help his friend save the village. _

_He helped the half-starved girl back to her house. She sat at the table and pointed to something on the shelf. The boy retrieved the staff she gestured to and set it in front of her. As soon as she held it, she could feel her strength returning and was able to walk on her own. She opened the door and headed to the village entrance with the boy. When the townspeople saw this, they tried to stop her, but the boy stood between them. _

"_No! She is going to save us all! You have to believe in her!"_

_The people were uneasy, but let her raise her staff with the boy's words. Suddenly, the night sky faded and revealed the true environment outside the village – the evil spirit from the forest towered over a dome of shimmery light, trying to break it and enter the village. It spewed forth black sludge from wherever it touched, infecting its surroundings with its taint. The monster roared in anger, hundreds of gnarled teeth gleamed in the moonlight. The people began to scream in terror and flee back to their own homes at the horrific sight._

"_This light is protecting us…Did you do that…?" the boy asked. _

_His friend only smiled, crouched beside him and spoke for the first time in weeks. _

"_Run…you clever little boy…." _

_As her words escaped her lips, the barrier began to fade and the giant evil began to devour everything in its path. The girl smiled again for the boy and he heeded her words, running back into town. From there, he was able to watch safely as the girl raised her staff and was engulfed in light. When the light faded, the girl was gone and the monster was dead. _

_The people were relieved, yet riddled with guilt. The boy explained that she was unable to speak because she was holding up the barrier. They had treated the savior of the town cruelly, but she had still protected them in the end. The villagers wanted to thank her, but she was gone. They all wanted to honor the good witch that had saved their lives, but didn't know how. _

_At that point, the boy stood up and began to sing…he sang the song the girl had taught him to raise his spirits. Soon after, the entire village joined him in song. _

_Nobody knows the name of the good witch who saved the village from evil so long ago, but her song is still sung by its people to this day. _

Lovino was going to ask his brother if he was finally done annoying him and ready for bed, but the younger of the brothers was already asleep.

"Good night…idiota."

* * *

The next day at school, Feliciano greeted his friends Ludwig, Kiku, Alfred. After a nudge from Lovino, he greeted Matthew as well. He must have just arrived, Feli was sure he wasn't there just a second ago. That reminded him of a show he saw on TV the other day and he absolutely _had_ to tell Ludwig about it. He never knew that Dobermans could be trained to waltz!

After a few minutes, the student council president showed up (simultaneously getting Ludwig out of promising Feliciano that they would one day train large dogs to ballroom dance) and begged Matthew and Lovino to help him.

"Let me guess, it's _those_ idiots again, isn't it?" sighed the Italian.

Matthew, taking what little recognition he could get asked where they were/what they were plotting. The two followed the president before 'Those crazies added a new exit on the building's north side that was most definitely NOT school board approved.'

Antonio, Francis, and Gilbert, collectively known as the Bad Touch Trio, were known for most of the pranks, mischief, and general chaos that befell the school. Only the combined powers of Lovino and Matthew ever seemed to have any effect on the trio. Once the BTT got an idea in their heads, the only chance in hell anyone had to dissuade them rested on those two. They were like _magic_. That, or just really, really good looking.

The others continued on to their classroom, while the tsundere and the boy with the invisibility cloak went to do battle with evil. Karitoru High School was small like the town it was located in. While the Elementary and Junior High were combined in a single building on the eastern side of town, the high school was on the western side. Being as little as it was, many of the students had electives together to cut down on rooms required, regardless of what grade level they were in.

"So, I guess I didn't get why our cooking teacher kept glaring at me yesterday when we made spaghetti in class…that was supposed to be an _easy_ recipe!" Alfred complained to Feliciano. "I even remembered to chop the garlic this time!"

"Mr. Aldente was mad _because_ you chopped the garlic!" giggled the brunette. "He probably bit into a big piece of that when he tested it."

"Huh?"

"You were supposed to _mince_ the garlic…"

"What's the difference?"

Feliciano smiled and explained that mincing the garlic into extremely small pieces was different than haphazardly chopping the food into big pieces and can make all the difference to certain ingredients that have a kick to them. Alfred seemed to understand and Feliciano smiled again.

"I'm surprised you took Cooking this year, Alfred."

"Well, a hero has to expand his horizons…" he scratched his head with a grin.

"Yeah! You're doing really good compared to when you first started out!" Feli cheered him on.

"I can't lose when I have the Vargas brothers for tutors! You and Lovi are my secret weapon!" laughed the blond.

During the Cooking 101 conversation, Ludwig had noticed that Kiku looked especially somber that morning. Which was saying a lot. This is the guy who's default face is serious student.

"Are you alright, Kiku?"

"Kiku's not feeling well?" Feliciano asked in concern, turning when he heard Ludwig's voice.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing," the dark-haired boy informed them. "Just late shifts."

"What do you mean?"

"Playing Big Brother Yao is exhausting," he smiled. "I don't know how he does it every day."

Kiku's older brother Yao had been raising Kiku and the other Wang children on his own after their father's death two years ago. Their mother had died a few years after Yong Soo was born. Kiku had to grow up quickly and always worked hard for his family.

"There's been several deaths from the nursing home lately," added Kiku. "Yao's been very busy with funerals, so I've been trying to help around the house more."

Anyone who's met Yong Soo knows what a challenge that can be.

"Do you want any help?" Feli asked.

"Thank you, but it's fine, Feliciano. Mei's been a big help and I think the worst of it is over now," he nodded. "Yong Soo's new Girl's Generation album arrived yesterday and has been keeping him occupied."

The Italian glanced over at Mei, who was chatting with her friends like any other day.

"Ve~" he said in awe. "Girls are strong…"

The bell rang and they took their seats as the teacher came in.

"Oh, no! Your brother's not back yet, Alfred!" whispered Feli.

"Ah, it's alright. Mattie's like a _ninja_! The teacher probably won't even notice he's gone!"

Ignoring his overdramatic karate gestures, the brunette chided him about that not being a nice thing to say about his brother.

"But being a ninja is like a compliment! Not just anybody can be that cool!" Alfred insisted. "Kiku, back me up here!"

Kiku ignored his friends and prayed the teacher wouldn't look their way for a while.

* * *

Meanwhile, in other more potentially hazardous sections of the school…Matthew was calmly and carefully trying to convince the Bad Touch Trio not to mix the unlabeled chemistry bottles together in order to watch the 'awesome sparks fly around.' Lovi chose a different approach.

"Put down the damned bottle or I'll dump it on your head, idiota!"

"Lovi~!" exclaimed Antonio, bounding over to the Italian. "You should try it! It's fun!"

"Mixing dangerous chemicals together isn't my idea of fun."

"You seem upset today. Were you lonely? Did you miss Boss?" asked the taller boy, ruffling Lovi's hair.

"For the last time, you are _not_ the boss of me!" he growled back, swatting at the Spaniard's hand.

He quickly exchanged a glance with Matthew, letting him know that Antonio was under control. Once he got talking about how Lovi believed him to be the Boss of the town as a child because he gave him the most delicious tasting tomatoes in all of existence (clearly he _had_ to be the Boss of something if he had access to such things) he never seemed to stop.

_That's one_…

Matthew was able to quickly convince Francis that if one of the sparks landed on his hair, it could ignite. Francis valued his hair more than life itself and knew his little cousin rarely lied to him. And _Maple_, did Matthew know to choose his words _very_ carefully when it involved Francis's hair. The blond then retreated to join Antonio teasing Lovino about the good ole days, leaving only Gilbert.

_That's two_…

Matthew still was unsure why the older boy seemed to put so much stock in his opinion, but he did. Matthew only had to ask Gil once to put the flask of strangely colored liquid down. Gil was much more interested in telling the blond one of the many tales of his Awesomeness. Now that Matthew was there and willingly listening to him, Gilbert was content to talk forever and ever

_That's three…home free_!

The trio and their companions were walking back to class, once they heard the bell. Although Matthew was the only one who really cared about not being tardy, the others humored him and decided to head back.

"That's right…" Antonio blinked.

Lovino looked up to see what made him suddenly stop talking about the churros he has for lunch. Secretly, Lovi was a little disappointed, because that usually meant he got some too. Antonio's mom made the best churros in town and she always made extra for just for her adorable 'Lovito.' (Like her son, she apparently had a soft spot for tsunderes, but I digress…)

"Have you been going into the woods lately, Lovi?"

"Sure, why?"

"I heard another camper went missing a little ways north of town," Antonio said with some concern in his voice.

"Geez, what is that now…6, 7 people that have gone missing this month?" Gilbert mused.

"Yeah, mostly campers, hikers, and hunters on vacation or passing through the woods…"

"And you guys wonder why I don't like hanging out there…" cringed Francis.

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal over it. It's not like I go that far," Lovino replied, directing his statement at the Spaniard.

"Just be safe, so Boss doesn't have to worry, ok?" he said, patting the boy's head like a child's.

"As if you'd worry, tomato bastard!"

"Ah, but I always worry about my little henchman~!" Antonio hugged the tsundere.

"Cut it out, already!" Lovino shoved him off. "Chigi!"

"That's a lot of people that have gone missing so close to town…" Matthew said worriedly.

Gil immediately noticed this and tried to comfort him.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Birdie! Each year there's always a few ppl that come from out of town and get lost up in the mountains. I'm sure they'll turn up eventually!"

"T-That's good," Matthew nodded as his cousin sighed beside him.

"Can we please steer this conversation out of the horrible forest and closer to where we actually live?" Francis' mouth twitched into a smirk. "Mathieu, mon cher, I hear _someone_ has a crush on you…"

"M-Me?" asked the smaller blond, a blush appearing on his cheeks.

Gilbert paled as much as an albino could manage and quickly lapsed into a coughing fit.

"If you're getting sick, then stay the hell away from me, potato bastard!" Lovino swore.

"Aww, who has a crush on Matthew?" Antonio inquired with a grin.

"Who, indeed?" Francis casually tossed a knowing look in Gil's direction.

"H-Hey, guys! Check out this cool new trick I learned!" the German interrupted, climbing onto a chair and backflipping off it with ease. "Pretty awesome, right?! But wait, there's more!"

He scurried off to impress/distract his friends with his sweet acrobatic moves learned from many a boring afternoon in his parents' workshop.

Matthew had to admit the albino had some impressive stunts, but was a little disappointed that Francis got distracted and never finished his story about someone who has a crush on him. Oh, well, he could always ask his cousin later.

* * *

School came and went as it always did, and before long Feliciano found himself at dinner. Normally, he liked the chance to catch up with his father and eat delicious pasta, but he always missed seeing his brother at the table.

Their father, Romeo, had stopped allowing Lovino at the main table when he was a child. Since he was always sickly, Romeo justified it as preventing anything from spreading to them. After Lovi outgrew his illness for the most part, he said he preferred eating in his room anyway. Feli was still unsure about that, but didn't want to start another fight between the two.

"How was your day at school, Feliciano?" Romeo asked and let the other ramble for a bit. He wasn't always able to follow what his strange son said (due to the intense speed and downright _bizarre_ things the boy encountered daily) but felt it was his place to let him talk. Romeo was quite adept at feigning attention by this point in Feliciano's life anyway.

After several minutes of "Lud this" and "Lud that" Romeo cleared his throat to get the youngest Vargas' attention again.

"I wanted to inform you that your Grandfather will be in town soon."

"Nonno's coming back?!" Feli bounced in his chair excitedly. "When will he be back?!"

"It won't be for a few more weeks, but he said after he closes this business deal, he expects to stay in town for awhile," Romeo stated. "This will be a good opportunity for you to demonstrate the skills you've learned as the Heir to the Vargas family business."

Of course, Feliciano barely heard the last part. He couldn't wait to tell his brother the good news. His brain was going at its usual levels of lightspeed. Lovino didn't always get along with Romulus either, but Nonno always tries really hard and loves both of them so much…not that their father didn't, but…ugh, his head hurt. Time for more pasta!

* * *

Feli walked down the hallway towards his brother's room and saw the family portrait had fallen from wall. He picked it up, glad it wasn't broken. The boy wondered how it fell; the nail in wall seemed fine when he looked it over. He shrugged went about trying to fix it, admiring his handiwork when he finished.

It was one of his favorite paintings of his family – painted by his Nonno back when the brothers' mom was alive. He admired the portrait again, Leora was sitting on a velvet-cushioned chair, holding Feliciano, who was just a baby at that point. Two year old Lovi was standing beside her with a shy smile on his angelic face. Even his father was smiling in the picture, everyone looked so happy and full of life.

The amber-eyed boy sighed. It was hard to believe that his mom would die just over a year after it was painted. He shook the sad memory out of his head and focused on the painting again. His Nonno had done a wonderful job capturing everyone in the portrait. You could tell that Feli took their father with his light brown hair and matching eyes. Lovi took after their mother – proud green eyes bordered by dark brown hair. He was pulled out of his thoughts by something scratching on the window.

Feliciano turned, afraid at first, and then smiled at the little bird pecking at the glass. He opened the window and allowed the little bird to rest on his hand. As a child, he wasn't able to have pets due to his brother's chronic illness, so he befriended the birds in the courtyard of their house. They seemed to like his company and had been his friends since.

Although whenever he called them such, Lovi would tell him he was being an idiot. When Feli was 10 and still playing with the birds, Lovi took drastic measures to prevent teasing at school.

He told him that the only people who sing to birds, dance around with them, and play together are princesses from the fairy tales their mother used to read to them.

This had the unfortunate side effect of convincing Feli that he was in fact, a fairy tale princess, and led to an embarrassing cross-dressing phase that was still a little confusing to explain to outsiders, but that was another story.

Feliciano smiled and hummed a little tune as he recalled one of his fights with Lovino over it. His big brother kept telling him that he was a boy, not a princess. Feli remained insistent that he was a _beautiful_ princess, stamped his foot, and stormed off to find his prince (Ironically, that was also the day he first met Ludwig when his family moved into town).

The brown-eyed boy pulled out a cracker from his pocket, (because let's face it, this is Feli we're talking about—of course he carries food with him, probably has pasta in the other pocket) and offered it to the little bird, who happily munched on it. When Feli's bird friend was done, he chirped happily at the boy and flew off towards the setting sun. Feliciano waved to him and was about to tell him to visit again soon when disaster struck.

An eagle suddenly dove from the sky, piercing the smaller bird with its beak. Feliciano heard the sickening crunch of bones snapping and backed away from the window in horror. The eagle seemed to catch his eye before flying off, stray feathers from the smaller bird trailing behind it.

Feliciano felt tears spring in his eyes, slammed the window, and took off running to his fratello's room.

* * *

Lovino Vargas was equipped to handle many things over the course of living with his little brother for 16 years.

He knows how to properly read _Song of the Witch_ (you have to do the voices, or Feli complains).

He can eat twice his weight in pasta alone for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

He knows how to deal with weird little brothers going through that awkward cross-dressing phase.

He's able to make sense of even the randomest of ramblings that come out of Feli's mouth, despite flawed logic, sugar highs, or extreme fear (sometimes all three).

Hell, he learned how to run like the fucking wind, despite recently overcoming a heart condition, to be able to catch up with Feliciano and remind him that while Alfred and Matthew's dog is excitable, it's not evil and out to get him.

He was _not_ equipped to handle consoling a grieving brother over the loss of his little bird friends.

"It's just a damned bird, Feli! There's a hundred more flying around!"

"I-I know, fratello!" he insisted through sobs. "B-But Mario h-had a wife and family!"

Lovi could only facepalm as he thought '_Oh, great, now he's _named_ the damned thing!'_

"Fratello!"

"Look, Feli. It's nature. That shit happens. Birds die, sometimes they get eaten."

"B-But I've never seen them g-get eaten in front of me!" the youngest wailed. "I've never even seen them _die_ in front of me! Poor Mariooooo!"

Lovi took a deep breath and tried to remind himself he was really talking to the Vargas heir. Sometimes this was harder to believe than other times. This was one of those times. He wasn't Feliciano, the respected heir to the powerful Vargas Family. He was Feli, blubbering crybaby that needed reassurance that life was going to go on and be ok somehow.

"Look, how about we go out for a hike tomorrow? It'll be Friday, so we can take our time finding Mario's family and you can comfort them in their time of great need."

Feliciano peeked out from behind hands.

"R-Really?"

"Sure."

"C-Can we bring them snacks?"

"As long as you stay out of the peanut butter this time."

"Ok, fratello! You're the best!" he beamed and hugged him, feeling much better now. "I better get planning what we'll need!"

The future heir of sorts dashed out of the room while Lovino called after him.

"Don't forget to sleep at some point! …Idiot."

* * *

Shortly after Feli left to write Mario the Bird an obituary, Lovino decided to get ready for bed and completed his usual bedtime rituals– shower, eat a tomato/midnight snack, brush teeth, etc. He had just managed to fall asleep when his cell phone started ringing.

He debated ignoring it, the only ones that usually called him this late were Antonio or Alfred, and nearly always because they had a stupid question. Right now, he wasn't feeling like dealing with either idiot, but decided to at least check the caller ID.

It didn't pop up as anyone from his contact's list, but he recognized the area code for Karitoru and answered. A very distressed woman speaking in frantic Spanish greeted his eardrums.

Lovino blinked and strained his brain to switch over to the Spanish that he learned from the tomato bastard. He told her he thinks she has the wrong number to the best of his ability, but the woman interrupted him again.

"Mi Lovito! Por favor! Lovito!"

As soon as he heard that he felt a pit form in his stomach and he knows instantly who it is – Antonio's mother.

With renewed concern, he asks what happened and she responded in rapid-fire Spanish again.

"It's Antonio! Is he with you?" her heart breaking a little more when the boy told her he wasn't. "Lovito…I'm scared…I think Antonio is missing…"

* * *

**A/N** – Thank you for reading all of this! I know it was long. You're awesome. Prussian Awesome. I promise the next chapters will be much shorter and easier to read. The Vampires will be showing up soon, too!

Gah! That fairy tale just would _not_ end! I hadn't planned on it going more than a page or two tops, but UGH! I always kill myself with the little details. On the plus side, now only quotes or small passages will be mentioned from it. Heh, and yes, there was a Dr. Who quote in there. I couldn't resist.

Minor note, might be important later, a bird pecking at a window is considered by some to be an omen of death. As is a fallen portrait. Just sayin'.

~Rajikka

**Translations**

Shiki – "corpse demon" basically a Vampire. (Jap.)

Karitoru – "to reap" or "to harvest" (Jap.)

Fratello – "Brother" (It.)

Idiota – "Idiot" (It.)

Lovito – "Little Lovi" (Sp.)

Mon cher – "My dear" (Fr.)

Mi Lovito! Por favor! Lovito! – "My little Lovi! Please! Little Lovi!" (Sp.) I translated her final phrase to English to make it easier for those who don't know Spanish and didn't want to look it up and lose their place. As far as the story goes, she was speaking Spanish the entire time with Lovi.


	2. Stopped Time

**Shiki**

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

_Warnings: AU, Vampires/Shiki, multiple pairings (boy/boy being prevalent), coarse language, violence, and excessive references to blood (because there's Vamps, so…duh)._

Thanks for all the support from the last chapter! It helped motivate me to get this out a little sooner! :3

This chapter is probably closer to what normal chapter lengths will be. And for the first section, assume Antonio's mom is still speaking Spanish to Lovi. I figured anyone who didn't know Spanish wouldn't want to deal with scrolling back and forth between the passage and the translation at the end of the fic just to get a conversation. Enjoy!

* * *

Lovino asked Antonio's mother to repeat what she just said, hoping he heard her wrong.

"Antonio, he always calls me when he's going to be very late, Lovito; especially on school nights," Isabella tried to keep a steady voice. "H-He didn't call, so I've been calling his friends to check on him. Is he with you, mi Lovito?"

"I-I'm sorry, I haven't seen him since school," Lovino choked on his words a little because he was tired, definitely not because he was getting a bad feeling over the whole thing. "But I'll call you if I hear from him."

"Thank you, Lovito…" Antonio's mother thanked him, concern still in her voice. "This just isn't like him…"

The Italian silently agreed, but didn't want to worry her further.

"It'll be okay!" he insisted. "I'll find Antonio at school and lecture him good for you."

He breathed a silent sigh of relief when she laughed a little and thanked him. Lovino normally doesn't go out of his way to make others feel better, but Isabella's different. She has a special place in Lovino's heart as one of the few adults that didn't treat him differently. Others always gave him fake sympathy as a child because of his illness or just ignored him. Isabella always gave him tomatoes or small treats when he helped her water the garden. She always had something nice to say about him, but teased him mercilessly when he blushed. (Gee…I wonder who Antonio took after?)

As they said their goodbyes, Lovino hoped the tomato bastard was alright. Then he huffed and made a mental note to get even with him the next time he saw him for making his own mother fret about him. He wasn't worried anymore. Not one bit! He'd see the tomato bastard at school, kick him in the shins, and make him regret putting them through this. If he made the Spaniard feel bad enough, he might even get churros out of the deal. Stupid Antonio probably just lost his phone again or fell asleep before calling anyone….right?

* * *

At school the next day, Feliciano could see something was wrong with Ludwig from a mile away. The blonde's eyebrows were furrowed closer together than usual, his normally alert and assertive blue eyes were distant, as if he was deep in thought, and his walk…well, when the tall German nearly walked right into the thorny rose bushes outlining the school, Feli knew something was up.

"Hi, Lud!"

"Hm? Oh, guten morgen, Feliciano."

"Are you okay? You look worried…"

"I…" Ludwig began, about to make something up, but realized it was just Feliciano, so he could be honest. "Actually…It's my brother. Gilbert never came home last night."

"What?!" Lovino exclaimed, nearly making them all jump.

In his daze, Ludwig hadn't even noticed he was there. Somehow he had missed that as well as Kiku joining them (the latter he attributed to Kiku being like a ninja). Fortunately, his other friends had their attention on the brunette. It was unusual for him to take any interest in whatever Ludwig said.

"The albino jerk never came home?" he asked, trying not to sound concerned.

"J-Ja," Ludwig managed, still unused to Lovino addressing him without curse words. On top of that, he sounded almost…worried? "I waited up, but he never returned."

"But doesn't Gil go out all the time? There's only so much to do in our town…" offered Feli.

"Maybe he's staying at a friend's house?" Kiku added.

"That could be…" Ludwig nodded, noticing Lovino quickly covering up all traces of worry.

"That stupid French bastard!" Alfred complained as he stomped over to the group with Matthew.

"Al! We're at school, watch it!" his brother chided him in his loudest, fiercest tone – a slightly raised whisper.

"I almost thought there were two Lovis for a minute there!" laughed Feliciano.

"That's the greatest compliment you're ever gonna get, hamburger bastard," smirked the elder Vargas.

"Sweet!" the American grinned, all signs of previous annoyance vanished from his face. "Maybe I'll get your cooking talents next."

"Don't push your luck. Perfection takes time."

"What were you so upset about?" Kiku inquired.

"Huh?" Alfred blinked.

"You were mad at Francis?"

"Oh, right!" Alfred sweatdropped. He had completely forgotten after Lovino distracted him. "He was supposed to meet me this morning to look over my French homework, but he never showed! I waited around for 20 minutes too! Is his hair _that_ important?"

"I know you're upset, but I'm sure something important came up, eh?" his younger brother said.

"I'm alright now," Alfred waved it off. "I just had to get that off my chest."

"You're such a child, Al…" Matthew sighed.

"Ve~ But how unusual for Francis not to show up," mused Feliciano. "He loves tutoring French."

"He didn't show up either…?" Lovino paled. Things were adding up fast and he didn't like where they were going.

"No, I haven't seen him all morning," the blue-eyed boy blinked. "…Lovino? You alright, buddy?"

"I have to go find Antonio!" he exclaimed and ran off towards the main building, leaving the others confused.

"Fratello?"

"Hold up, Lovi! I'll help you!" the American brightened and chased after him. "Just leave it to the hero~!"

"Those two can be so strange, sometimes…but I hope they find them." Kiku smiled.

"Me too," Ludwig nodded.

* * *

But they didn't find them at school. It seemed like all three boys ditched classes that day. Nobody had any idea where they were, so Ludwig called a meeting at the local restaurant Tulipan to go over what they knew. Admitingly, it wasn't much.

"Alright, so all that we know is that at some point yesterday, bruder, Antonio, and Francis got together after school and never came home or contacted anyone?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah, I called Francis' parents and neither have heard from him since yesterday either," Matthew confirmed, looking a little down.

"And Antonio's mother called fratello to try to find him too," Feli added.

"Has there been any news since?" Ludwig looked around the table, everyone shook their heads. "There has to be something. They couldn't have just vanished! Not even those three would cause _this_ much trouble!"

"Are you guys looking for Antonio and the others?" Bella, their waitress, asked while she brought them the drinks they ordered. Most locals hear the word 'trouble' and automatically associate it with those three.

"Yes, do you know anything about it?" Ludwig replied.

"Well, they came in here last night, but then it got busy and they bailed," she explained, emptying the large tray of drinks. "I didn't even see them leave."

"If you had to guess, what time did you see them last?" asked Kiku.

"Hmmm…probably about 10ish?" she said. "That's about when the late night rush started…they took off sometime after that."

"Thanks, Bella," Lovino gave her a smile.

"No problem, Lovi!" she beamed. "Hope they turn up soon, but I'm sure they're ok! You know them!"

"Don't remind me…" Lovino chuckled, not even mentioning the nickname because it came from a pretty girl.

Bella laughed again before leaving to wait on another table.

"Maybe we could try calling them again?" Kiku suggested.

"Antonio's phone just goes straight to voicemail," grumbled Lovino. "Idiota probably forgot to charge it…_again_."

"Gil's does the same…"

"I could try calling Francis again," Matthew offered, taking out his phone. "I haven't tried since after school."

"It's worth a shot," Alfred shrugged.

Matthew dialed and waited patiently for his cousin to pick up.

"Oh! I know this song~!" Feliciano brightened, when he heard a familiar tune over the restaurant chatter. He started bouncing/dancing in the booth. "It's a big hit on the radio right now!"

"It's stupid," his brother disagreed. "It's…_French_."

"Isn't that Francis' ringtone for you, Mattie?"

"Eh?"

Upon realizing the tune wasn't coming from the radio, the group looked around to hear where it was coming from. When Matthew's call went to voicemail, he tried calling again (after leaving a polite message, of course) and the song started again. Kiku was the one to find it at a nearby booth. It seemed to have fallen between the cushions of the booth, but was otherwise intact.

Now this, Lovino found strange. Antonio was constantly losing his phone and Gil was prone to leaving it in places it didn't belong, but Francis' phone was practically attached to his hand. He never saw him without it. They must have left here in a pretty big hurry for him of all people to have left it behind. We're talking End-Of-The-World, Death-Is-Upon-Us kind of hurry.

After quickly finishing their drinks, the group of six friends paid their bill and began searching around town for the Bad Touch Trio. They checked the Beilschmidt home first and then the Bonnefoy's, but neither set of parents had heard from their sons. Lovino convinced them not to visit the Carriedo home, because Isabella was already worried enough over the whole thing. He didn't want to show up to see her without knowing where Antonio was first.

From there, the group looked at all the usual haunts of the troublesome trio – the Beilschmidt Mechanic Shop (where Gil worked), Bonnefoy Winery (where both Francis and Antonio worked), Karitoru General Store (where they got most of the materials for their pranks), the hospital (in case they showed up injured), and their school (in case the trio were pulling a prank). They found no traces of the missing boys and no one had seen them since yesterday.

* * *

By six o'clock, the town had gotten worried enough that they put together a search team. The police force itself was relatively small, but there were enough concerned adults and worried friends to help fill the ranks. The group followed Feliciano's idea to join the grown-ups to find their friends.

Having searched most of the town, the team of six teenagers and a few miscellaneous adults headed towards the forest outlaying the town. They began in the search by the main entrance to the woods.

"It's been awhile since I've been to Troll Bridge!" Feli smiled, making conversation. "How about you guys?"

"A few weeks, maybe," Alfred grinned. "I usually stick to the trails on the west side of town. There's this one trail that leads to this awesome cliff you can rock climb on and—"

"A couple of days," Lovino interrupted his friend before he got completely off-topic. "It's been too rainy."

"It's been awhile since I've been on any of the trails at all," Kiku stated. "I've been too busy, I suppose.

"I don't think I've been to Troll Bridge since Francis and the others tried to convince us that a troll lived under it," chuckled Matthew.

The others laughed at the memory, except for Ludwig. He didn't know them very well at that point, but he heard the story of how Toll Bridge was renamed. Apparently, his brother and the others liked to hang out there while they were growing up. Since they were the "big kids" and trusted well enough not to jump off the bridge and drown, the BTT often spent their days plotting on the bridge. It was relatively safe, in a scenic area, and only about five minutes away from town, so many people visited it.

Many years ago, visitors had to pay a toll at the bridge to enter town, but that stopped around the time people realized not to give visitors another reason to avoid their town in the middle of nowhere. The name "Toll Bridge" stuck until the Bad Touch Trio tried convincing the younger kids that a terrible troll lived under that bridge and gobbled up small children like candy if they didn't pay the toll. When the kids weren't scared enough, the Bad Touch Trio dragged a few of them there to see the old sign bearing its name. Gil later admitted that he was the one who spray-painted an "R" between the "T" and "O" to give the sign a scarier effect. Unfortunately, he hadn't taken into account that most 4 year olds can't read all that well yet.

The group arrived at the riverbed and began looking for any signs that the three boys had been there recently. They searched above and below the bridge as well as the surrounding bushes and benches. Several sat down on the benches to figure out where to go next to continue. From his spot on one of the log benches facing the river, Feliciano saw something glimmer near the water.

"What's that?" he asked tugging his brother's sleeve.

"What's what?"

"That…sparkly thing over there!"

"Where?"

"By the water! Here, I'll show you!" and with that, he dragged Lovino over to the edge of the water.

"Don't get too close, idiota!" the older of the two growled. "You'll fall in and get me soaked too."

Feliciano ignored his brother's protests and picked up the object he saw from the benches.

"Look! It's a pretty watch!" he exclaimed. "Oh…but it doesn't seem to work anymore…"

"Looks like a piece of junk to me," shrugged Lovino, as he guided his oblivious brother away from the slippery rocks.

"Did you find something dude?" Alfred asked, walking over to the brothers.

"Yeah! It looks like an antique watch!" Feli said, happy with his find.

"Let me see that!" Ludwig practically tore the watch away from the Italian.

"Ludwig?"

"What the hell, potato bastard?!"

Ludwig didn't hear either Vargas brother as he turned the watch over in disbelief. He glanced over the intricate exterior, the golden band, and the faint scratches on the front.

"Are you listening to me, jackass?!" Lovino shouted at him.

"L-Lovi! It's ok! Really!" Feliciano stood between the two. "I'm sure Ludwig just really wanted to see the watch. Right, Lud?"

"This is Gilbert's watch," was all he said.

Everyone stood silent in shock.

"He inherited it from our late Uncle Frederick," he explained. "Bruder treasured it. He never takes it off…"

The others took this in while Ludwig had Feliciano show him and the adults where he found it. This led most to believe the trio ended up going into the forest before they disappeared. If that was the case, things weren't looking good.

"D-Do you think they really went into the woods at night?" Feli asked, voice full of worry. He thought the forest was scary enough in the daytime.

"It seems like they came this way, but we don't know when," Kiku tried to reassure him. "It could have been before they even went to Tulipan and went missing."

"B-But the clock was stopped at 11:00…"

"You saw that piece of junk, Feli," said his big brother. "It could have been broken a long time ago."

"Ve~ I guess so…"

"And nobody knows the forest better than Antonio and Gilbert," Lovino tried to comfort the others (and himself). "It's not like they're some idiot tourists or amateur campers."

"And Francis would sooner eat Al's cooking than willingly walk into the woods!" Matthew added.

"What's that supposed to mean, Mattie?!"

"U-Um…"

During this exchange, Ludwig was talking to the larger group of police and experienced hunters that gathered in the clearing by the bridge. They had planned on searching the deeper part of the forest tonight and Ludwig had planned on convincing them to take him with. A few opposed it, but the majority agreed because he was very dependable for his age and wanted to find his brother.

"Ve~! You're going to stay out here and look more?" Feli asked in disbelief when the German told them the news. "But you'll miss dinner!"

"Several of the others have already packed sandwiches for us," he said. "I'll be fine. I really want to help them search."

"U-Um, here! Take this then!" Feliciano took off the strand of gold around his neck and handed it to Ludwig. "It's my lucky necklace! It'll help keep you safe and find them!"

"Are you sure? I couldn't possibly take something that important to you…" Ludwig protested, but his friend shoved the necklace in his hand anyway. It sparkled in the sun when Feli took his hand away.

"Positive! You can give it back when everybody's safe and sound, okay?"

"Right, thank you, Feliciano."

The five waved him off and wished him good luck. Okay, the four of them did, Lovino just kinda glared at the German and silently swore to kill him if anything happened to the necklace Feli lent him. They each got a matching necklace from their mother shortly before she died, so it had a lot of sentimental value. It was similar to the one their grandfather always wore, but the crucifixes on theirs were slightly smaller and completely gold (Nonno had a diamond on his, as it was forged from his and his late wife's wedding bands).

Feliciano was starting to get hungry and tired, so Lovino told him to head home with the others.

"What are you going to do, fratello?"

"I'm going to look for just a little longer, then go home."

"Don't stay out too late," Feliciano pouted and gave his brother a hug. "It's getting really dark…"

"I'll be fine, Feli. I practically grew up in the woods, remember?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Feli!" Alfred cut in, clapping Lovi on the shoulder. "I'll stay out a bit later and make sure he gets home safely."

"I don't need—"

"Thanks, Alfred!" the younger Vargas beamed, his worry quickly evaporating. "I'll see you guys later."

"No problem! Seeya!"

"Ugh…See you later."

Feliciano thanked him again before departing with Kiku and Matthew. He felt a lot better knowing Lovi wouldn't be all alone in the woods. Kiku was still a little concerned about the two still searching this area so late, but figured they'd eventually get hungry and return. They were predictable like that. Matthew, on the other hand, was relieved Lovino was going with his brother and would be able to keep him out of trouble. He knew Alfred talked big, but didn't know the woods very well at night.

"Just so you know, I don't need anyone to walk me home," Lovino growled as he and Alfred began walking on another trail. "I'll be fine by myself."

"But I'm the hero, it's my job!" Alfred insisted with a smile.

"Whatever…"

* * *

A/N – I was _thiiiiiis_ close to being able to fit in the Romerica scene this chapter, but didn't want to make this too long of a chapter or cut out parts from the Romerica scene to fit this. Annoyed about that, but guess what you get to read next time?

There will also be more clues about the Bad Touch Trio next time. Sorry to leave you hanging in this chapter. Things should get moving from chapter 3 and on, now that you have enough background info to go on :3

Also, a clock (a watch in this case) that stops is another omen of death. Uh-oh…

**Translations**

Shiki – "corpse demon" basically a Vampire. (Jap.)

Lovito – "Little Lovi" (Sp.) so "Mi Lovito" is "My little Lovi"

Guten Morgen – "Good Morning" (Ger.)

Ja – "Yes" (Ger.)

Tulipan – "Tulip" (Sp.)

Karitoru – "to reap" or "to harvest" (Jap.)

Fratello – "Brother" (It.)

Idiota – "Idiot" (It.)


	3. Detective Game

**Shiki**

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

_Warnings: AU, Vampires/Shiki, multiple pairings (boy/boy being prevalent), coarse language, violence, and excessive references to blood (because there's Vamps, so…duh)._

Thanks again for all the support! To answer a question that concerned a few people, no, you do not need to have read/watched the Shiki series this is based off to understand this. Those who have might be able to predict a few things before they happen or understand some characters before they're developed, but it's not necessary to know the actual Shiki series first. Especially since I'm tweaking it quite a bit and throwing in several other plot devices just for the hell of it.

Did you know Alfred was an actor? I didn't either. Enjoy!

* * *

After finding nothing on the path closest to Troll Bridge, Alfred and Lovino decided to start their search over in town. They went to the last place the Bad Touch Trio was seen – Tulipan.

"I think we should try to get into the mindset of Gilbert, Antonio, and Francis…" suggested Alfred.

"That's dumb."

"It's what they do in movies all the time!"

"'Cause that's a great thing to base our search on."

Alfred pouted. Lovino caved.

"Fine, fine! I'll be the tomato bastard and you be the pervert."

"Why do I have to be Gilbert?!"

"What? I was talking about Francis."

"Er, right, of course you were," Alfred replied, pushing thoughts of Gil hugging Matthew out of his mind.

"Idiota."

Alfred only grinned and took a deep breath. He then used his very best/over the top French accent to imitate his cousin.

"In there? In _there_?!" he mock-shrieked. "You really want me to go in those horrible woods! I might get dirt on my clothes, or worse – my _hair_!"

"That's exactly what that moron would say!" Lovino couldn't help but laugh.

"No, no! You have to think like Antonio, remember?" the blonde interjected. "What would he do?"

"Oh, ok," Lovino furrowed his eyebrows, and used an equally over the top Spanish accent. "Aw, c'mon amigo! We won't be there long, I promise! Gil just forgot his watch or something equally stupid!"

"I don't know about that last part, dude." Alfred smirked. "That sounded a little more like a certain Italian I know."

"If I keep acting like the airhead, I'm worried I might turn into one," the certain Italian huffed.

"Maybe," Alfred laughed and resumed his role. "There is no way you're getting me to set one foot inside that dirty deathtrap!"

"Lo siento, Gil. I don't think Francis will go…" the brunette fake-pouted at the empty space/Gilbert.

"That's right!" French Alfred snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "And nothing you can say will change my mind!"

Lovino didn't say anything back. He was wondering how this would have worked, knowing Francis would have declined any invitation into the forest, especially at night. Alfred wasn't about to let this stop them and jumped into the previously empty space and took over the role of Gilbert.

"C'mon, Franny! It'll be awesome!" he shouted with an obnoxious German accent.

Lovi snorted at this while Alfred jumped back into his Francis role on the other side of the Italian.

"No. Non, non, _non!_ There is no way anything involving bugs and mud can be awesome!" he raised his nose in a very French-like fashion and gestured to his clothing. "And this shirt is brand new!"

Lovino watched in amusement as his friend hopped back and forth, in and out of his two roles. He had to admit, Alfred was doing a pretty accurate job of imitating the two idiots.

"Forget your un-awesome shirt for five minutes and come take a look!"

"Forget my shirt?! This is imported from _Paris_! It cost more than your _car_!"

"Don't you bring my car into this! Right, 'Toni?!" he glanced over at Lovino, who was fighting a losing battle against containing his laughter.

"I think this could be a good career for you."

"'Toniiiii~! You're not in characterrrrr!" he pouted.

"Please, Francis? Por favor?" Lovino humored him.

"Non," responded the blonde, hands on his hips.

"I don't see how they could have gotten Francis to go in with them…" Lovino frowned.

" Hmm…what if…" Alfred grabbed Lovi's arm, going back to his Gil role. "C'mon! We have to hurry or we'll miss it!"

"B-Bastard! What are you doing?!" Lovino complained as himself. "It's dark! We might fall into the fucking river!"

"Kway-sey-sey-sey!" the fake Prussian laughed. "What are you worried about?! The awesome me knows where to go and you weren't moving! This is what I do when regular people who don't need anything to do with me won't listen when I start bragging about myself!"

"I guess he does have a habit of dragging people around when they ignore him. Especially poor Matthew," Lovino calmed down when Alfred stopped dragging him and managed a smirk. "And your laugh needs work."

"Wait, what?!" Alfred assumed overprotective big bro mode upon the mention of Matthew. Lovino didn't seem to notice.

"It's more of a Que-si-si-si, I think…"

"No, before, uh, nevermind."

"H-Hey, Alfred…" the green-eyed boy winced. "Could…could you…"

"Yeah?" he felt his face heat up slightly for reasons he couldn't name.

"…Could you let go of my arm now?" Lovino asked, holding his hand up. "Any harder and you're going to crush my wrist or my…my watch. Wait! That's it!"

"What? What is?" Alfred jerked away from the Italian in surprise.

"The potato bastard didn't lose his watch out here because it was old; he lost it because those three idiots were fighting!"

"Huh? But Ludwig said it was really old and slipped off before…"

"And he has potatoes on the fucking brain!" Lovino countered. "Each time, Gilbert must've noticed and put it back on!"

"So, if they were fighting, he might not have noticed it…" Alfred nodded. "That makes sense."

"Exactly!"

"How'd it get by Troll Bridge?"

"I…I'm not sure," Lovino faltered a bit. "Maybe the river carried it a ways?"

"You're probably right," the American said confidently.

"I am?"

"Sure! Here, I'll show you!"

The two walked into the faint trail that started not too far from Tulipan. Both were glad they had brought flashlights on Kiku's earlier suggestion. It was another well-traveled path, as the river curled around it and wasn't very far off the trail. People often got lunch to go from Tulipan, and brought it into the woods to have a picnic. Within five minutes, the boys were at the rest area by the river.

"I remember when Mattie accidentally dropped his toy boat in the river, we found it later on the banks by Troll Bridge," recalled Alfred. "It was a really lucky break! Mostly 'cause Mattie thought I bumped into him on purpose to make him drop the boat to see if it worked in water or not."

"Did you?" Lovi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that event," he answered in a somber tone before bursting into a smile. "So it's possible Gilbert's watch floated down that way too."

"Then we might be in the wrong place after all…the river's current is pretty strong, they could have been anywhere upstream."

"Don't give up, Lovi!" Alfred cheered his friend on. "I'm sure you're right about this being where they started out!"

"I told you a thousand times not to call me that. And why are you so fucking confident?"

"Because I trust your instincts. It makes the most sense for them to have come this way after leaving the restaurant."

"They wouldn't have the attention span to walk all the way to the next trailhead starting in town," he rolled his eyes.

"Right, which is why they probably entered here," the blonde nodded. "Bummer that it didn't rain or something, we could have followed their footprints…"

"I didn't see any either way," replied Lovino. "There's none on this side of the river, but I can't see Francis willingly crossing it now that it's at least 7 feet deep from all the rain earlier this month. The narrowest area is another half mile away or so, so if they crossed it, that's where they were."

"Heh, you're pretty smart, Lovi!" he patted his friend on the back. "We'd make a great detective team!"

"I'd be the detective, you'd be the comic relief," the brunette chuckled, remembering Alfred's earlier performance of Gilbert and Francis.

"But I want to be a detective too!"

"You can be the sidekick, but that's all I'm willing to negotiate."

"I'd still be a detective though?"

"Just barely."

"Sold!"

* * *

The great detective duo began walking down the trail Lovi thought the trio took if they went for the narrow part of the river. The sun had set a half hour ago, so it was getting darker and colder. Alfred noticed Lovino shiver.

"Should we head back?"

"No, I promised Antonio's mom that I'd find him…" he trailed off. "I want to look a little longer."

Lovino felt a warm coat placed over his shoulders.

"It's fine if you want to keep looking, but at least put this on, you're freezing."

"What? I don't need—"

"You promised to bring Antonio home and I promised to bring you home," Alfred cut him off with a smile. "I can't do that if you're half-frozen or get sick again."

"I wouldn't get sick!" the Italian exclaimed, blushing.

"Your brother doesn't seem all that scary, but if I brought you back with so much as a sniffle, he'd probably kick even _my_ ass!" laughed the blonde.

"Whatever, but since you already lent me this, I may as well wear it." Lovino slipped it on, pulling the collar up higher to hide his embarrassment. He was surprised by how soft the lining felt. "I still think it's dumb though."

They walked farther up the trail and end up in a clearing. With their flashlights and Lovino's navigating, it was surprisingly easy. They were making good time, but Alfred was surprised by how unseasonably cold it is. It was the middle of spring, yet he half-expected to see frost on the ground. He was about to mention it to his companion when a distant howl cut him off. It sounded almost…sad.

"B-Bastard! Did you hear that?" Lovino hissed.

"Yep."

"Was that a fucking wolf?" he glanced around nervously.

"I'm pretty sure it was a dog…"

"Hmph, no reason to turn back then," Lovi huffed and walked on.

Alfred followed, happy he trusted his judgment.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, it was only getting later and colder. Alfred knew how important finding the others was to Lovino, but his own health was important too. Lovino might not be as prone to illness as he was as a kid, but anybody can catch a cold….And he might've secretly been a little worried about what Feliciano would do to him if Lovino came home in anything less than perfect condition. Maybe if he promised to come here again tomorrow, Lovi would be up for heading back now?

"Detective Vargas, think we should call it a night for now and come back tomorrow?"

Lovino didn't respond. He seemed frozen in place.

"Lovi? Did you hear me?" Alfred walked over to him and shook his shoulder a little. "…Lovi?"

When he didn't get any response, he followed Lovino's slightly wobbling flashlight beam to a nearby tree. His heart sank. It looked like something had smashed the center of the trunk with a load of bricks, but that's not what Lovino saw…

He saw that on several pieces of the splintered bark was dried blood.

Lovino walked closer to it as if in a daze, reaching a hand up to touch the part of the tree that took the impact, near the blood

"L-Lovi, I don't think you should touch that. It might be animal blood or—"

"Or what?! It might be _Antonio's_ blood?!" he snapped at him. "Or the potato bastard's or even the pervert's…"

He felt his knees give out and slowly sunk to the ground, staring at the tree.

"Lovino!" Alfred managed to catch and support his upper torso to guide him to the ground. "It could be anything, we don't know for sure it's even human, let alone one of our friends…"

But Lovino barely heard him. All he could do was stare in horror at the red splotches that stained the tree. He couldn't help wondering if it was Antonio's…If it was his or even one of the others, it was hopeless. The tree had almost been broken in half. No way whatever caused the impact could have lived. They would have…died. Died alone out here in the goddamned forest and left to bleed to death. It must have been so painful…so lonely…He was dead. Antonio was dead. Lovino had lost him.

Alfred tried to bring Lovino back to his senses. The second he hit the ground, all he did was stare at the tree with dull green eyes. He didn't respond to his name or Alfred shaking his shoulders. The blond could see his breathing accelerate and that began to worry him more than the blood on the tree. If Lovino had another one of his attacks, the closest help was almost a mile away. Alfred shook him harder as Lovino's breathing became uneven and more forced. It was no good, he was still in his own world.

"I…I…lost them…"

"What did you say?" Alfred asked, not quite catching the muffled words.

"I…I lost Antonio…" Lovino felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. "After all I said…I promised his mom…I promised her I'd find him…"

Alfred decided to let him say whatever he had been bottling up over the last two days. He knew that despite his tough talk, teasing, and complaining, Lovino didn't tell people half the things that were on his mind. Better to let him get it out while he felt willing to share.

"This is so fucked up!" the brunette's voice grew louder and his breathing more uneven. "Where the hell did those bastards go?! Cazzo! I should have found them by now! Cheh…I should never have promised Isabella I'd find Antonio…I'm not cut out for that kind of thing…I'm such a fucking idiot!"

"Hey," Alfred caught Lovino's hand before he could smash it against the tree. "You are _not_ a fucking idiot. Don't ever let me hear you say that again."

Lovino was caught off guard by the seriousness of his tone. He looked up and was immediately captured by his eyes. They normally looked so innocent, but now he could see the storm behind them.

"You are Lovino Vargas – the greatest human being I have ever met," he continued, his voice growing warmer. "You're always looking out for your brother and your friends before yourself. I've seen you nearly suffocate to keep us all safe. You act like you don't care, but when people you care about are in trouble, you always give 150% no matter what."

Alfred smiled.

"If anybody in this town is going to find Antonio and his friends, it's going to be you."

As Lovino buried his head in Alfred's chest, the blonde rubbed slow circles over his back. He was glad he snapped him out of his near panic attack, but knew he was still upset. Alfred did his best to comfort his friend, relying on his instincts. He'd only been around for a few of Lovi's coughing fits as a child, and tried to remember what to do. There was something that Feli had taught him, but he only tried once before.

Without thinking, he planted a gentle kiss on Lovino's forehead and went back to rubbing his back. Lovi however was not having any of that and shot his head up to look at Alfred.

"D-Did you just kiss me?!" he asked, blushing furiously.

Alfred suddenly realized what he did and jerked back.

"W-What?! U-Uh, yeah, I guess so?"

"What do you mean you "guess so?!" Lovino inched forward to yell at him. This made Alfred suddenly afraid of the small space between him and the very angry Italian.

"I-I'm sorry! I did it without thinking! I just—"

"You did it without thinking?! Do you just wander around kissing everybody you meet?!"

"N-No! Of course not! I was just trying to think of what worked when we were kids!"

"What?!" Lovino exclaimed, blushing even more.

"Remember? Feliciano always did that when your attacks faded! He said it made you feel better!" Alfred brought his hands up to defend himself. "I even tried it once back then so you wouldn't get sick again!"

Lovino distinctly recalled having what they thought was a fever for 3 _days_ after that.

"Th-That doesn't mean you can just go around trying that now!" he argued. "We're not kids, idiot! Not even Feli does that anymore!"

At least, to his knowledge anyway.

"You…miss it, then?" Alfred smirked, attempting to make a joke, yet unaware he was signing his own death warrant. "Are you sad nobody does that anymore?"

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Lovino began wildly flailing around beside him. "Matthew won't even care!"

"Hey! Ow!" the blonde blocked most of the angry fists pummeling him. "He would too! He needs his big brother!"

"Then he can find a new one!"

"Wait! Whoa!" Alfred's hand slipped and he falls backwards, Lovi landing on top of him nearly headbutting him. "S-Sorry! My hand slipped and—"

"W-Whatever!" Lovino blushed and scurried off him. "I'm heading back!"

"You're just gonna leave me here?"

"If somebody as dumb as you can survive out here, even those three idiots have a chance!"

Alfred smiled that Lovino's hope had been restored. He jogged to catch up to the tsundere, who had already stormed back onto the path. The Italian felt like his face was on fire and starting to get concerned that his cheeks might be permanently stained red. Maybe he could pass it off as sunburn? Either way, he was grateful it was dark enough that nobody could see.

* * *

The boys walked back to town, wherein Alfred insisted that he walks Lovino home, since he promised Feliciano he would. Lovino sighed, but let him. It would take longer to argue and he _was_ getting a little tired.

It was a short walk back to the Vargas house. Once they arrived, Lovino started unzipping Alfred's bomber jacket to return it, but was stopped.

"S'okay. You look pretty cold still, so you can just keep it until you see me next."

"Fine, but I'm not going to bother cleaning it, since it was your fault it got dirty in the first place," Lovino shrugged, ignoring the heat rising on his cheeks again. Stupid sunburn.

"That's fine," Alfred laughed and waved before taking off. "G'night, Lovi!"

"I told you not to call me that!" he growled, then waved reluctantly. "…And good night, bastard."

* * *

Lovi entered his house and glanced around, in case anyone was around. Not so much for breaking curfew…he didn't really have one. Feliciano was always closely watched, but Lovino was able to come and go as he pleased, now that he was older and not sickly. Occasionally one of the two maids or a guard would question why in the world he was out so late, but never his father. As long as the family heir was safe and sound, there was no real reason to keep tabs on the other brother.

Anyhow, it wasn't his timing he was worried about, it was his attire. If Feli caught him wearing Afred's stupid (but surprisingly comfortable) jacket, he'd never hear the end of it. Where was the little pasta freak anyway?

Lovino poked his head into the living room and saw his little brother fast asleep on the couch. He had attempted to wait up for Lovino, but failed miserably. The older Vargas glanced at the table and found the culprit – a mug of half-empty hot chocolate. That stuff always puts Feli out like a light. There were also several cookbooks lined out, as if he was deciding what to make for lunch this week. Ignoring the bottle of open olive oil, (Feliciano had the strangest habit of sampling different brands to find the perfect one for each recipe) Lovino sighed and went to the closet to find a blanket to dump over his idiot brother. After Feli was secured in a quilt, Lovino retreated to his room.

The first thing he did was clean off the jacket Alfred had lent him. It wasn't like he was doing it to be nice, he just didn't want to get the reputation of trashing people's stuff that he borrowed.

He changed to his pajamas and went to his bed. The sheets were cold, so he tossed and turned, missing the previous warmth the jacket provided. Frustrated, he sat up in his bed. Next, he glanced around his room for any potential spies, grabbed the jacket and snuggled up in it once more before drifting off into sleep

* * *

A/N – Yeah...I don't think half of this would have fit into the last chapter. Normally I don't focus an entire chapter on just two people in a fic that has a dozen other people in it, but I was in a Romerica mood.

The boys are getting closer and closer to solving the mystery of the Bad Touch Trio…unless something intervenes of course.

How many omens of death can I fit in this fic? Two more for this chapter - hearing a mournful cry or howl is one. Sipping olive oil another. (Although I think the latter is more likely because olive oil is expensive and if you waste it, your superstitious Italian grandmother will come after you.)

**Translations**

Shiki – "corpse demon" basically a Vampire. (Jap.)

Tulipan – "Tulip" (Sp.)

Idiota – "Idiot" (It.)

Karitoru – "to reap" or "to harvest" (Jap.)

Cazzo – "Shit/Fuck/Damn/Generic Curse Word" (It.)

Fratello – "Brother" (It.)


	4. Searching Searching

**Shiki**

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

_Warnings: AU, Vampires/Shiki, multiple pairings (boy/boy being prevalent), coarse language, violence, and excessive references to blood (because there's Vamps, so…duh)._

Thanks again for encouraging me to keep up with this fic! I hadn't planned on updating this one so soon, but a couple motivational words, the promise of cookies, and the main theme from Higurashi randomly popping up on my iPod and you got this! Not quite as polished as I would like, but whatever, I'll edit it later if needed. Enjoy!

* * *

Sunlight streamed through Lovino's curtains, forcing him out of his slumber. He haphazardly reached for his cellphone to check the time. A bleary 11:37 AM glared back at him. Somehow managing to pull himself into a sitting position, he rubbed at his eyes and was a little surprised to find himself wearing Alfred's famous jacket.

"The hell…?" he cursed as the fog over his brain cleared and he remembered how he got it.

He sighed, ignoring the heat in his cheeks (stupid sunburn!) and was glad he cleaned the damned thing after all. It would have sucked to get dirt and twigs all over his bed.

Deciding breakfast was in order, he quickly changed his clothes and headed downstairs. Feliciano and Kiku were situated at the table, looking over several large maps of the area.

"Good morning, fratello!"

"Ohayo, Lovino-kun."

"Yeah, hi, got anything to eat? I'm _starving_…"

Feliciano laughed and grabbed the plate he asked the maid to save for him. He excused himself to the kitchen to heat it up for his big brother. Lovino took an empty seat next to Kiku and glanced at the many maps in front of him. He was never good at reading them, he preferred exploring on his own (even though it usually ended up with him getting lost at first).

"What's this?"

"Oh, this is a map of Karitoru and this one is a map of all the main trailheads," Kiku explained. "This one has all of the smaller trails and this is a map of the entire forest region…"

"I see," nodded the older Vargas brother, more impressed that Kiku could even tell them apart.

"We were marking off the areas people have already looked for Gil and the others," Feliciano said, returning with a plate full of delicious lasagna. "That way we'll know where to go on our next search."

"How do you know where the others looked?" Lovino asked, eagerly taking the plate.

"I asked Lud when I saw him a little while ago," Feli chirped at the memory of seeing his best friend, then saddened. "He got back late last night too. He said they didn't find anything, but he wants to go looking again today."

"Maybe they just weren't looking in the right place?" Lovino told them with a certain smugness to his voice.

"What do you mean, Lovino-kun?"

The Italian told them about tracking the area near Tulipan and finding the clearing (minus the crying and kiss on the forehead. That would just be humiliating.) He described the tree that looked like it collided with a sack of bricks as well as the blood on it.

"I want to check it out again today with more light."

"Ve~ That sounds like a good idea, fratello," agreed Feli. "But I'm surprised it doesn't worry you as much. All that blood and smashed up trees sounds scary!"

"W-Well, it might just be a stupid prank or even a failed one," Lovi assured him. "Or even the place Gil wrestled a bear."

The others laughed at the memory of Gil always bragging how he did that as a child.

"And there really wasn't _that_ much blood on the tree, so it could have been an animal…"

"We could take a blood sample and test it at the hospital," suggested Kiku.

"Ve~ Really?"

"How would we pull that off?"

"Ivan might help—"

"I-Ivan?" Feliciano squeaked.

"That creepy senior from school?" Lovi asked, shocked. "He'd sooner _eat_ us than _help_ us!"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," Kiku shrugged. "He's always visiting the shrine and explaining how advanced some of their new equipment is. He might want the chance to test it out and help us at the same time."

"I-If you say so, bastard…" Lovino still wasn't quite on board with the idea of asking that freakishly huge Russian for help. "But let's take people we can actually trust on the search party today."

"I'll call Alfred and Matthew," the black-haired boy offered.

"Umm…I'm not sure Alfred will be able to come with us today…" Feliciano trailed off.

"Why not?" his brother asked, suddenly curious.

"I ran into him after meeting with Ludwig and Alfred said he was up all night with their dog," he replied. "Alfred said something made her 'go schizo' but she's okay now."

Lovino agreed the American would probably sleep most of the day if he was up all night. And he didn't want to carry around his jacket all day in the odd chance he'd run into him, so he decided to leave it in his room for now.

* * *

Alfred woke up after a long night of searching for the others with Lovino and then dealing with his dog. Jessie's a laidback yellow lab-golden retriever mix, but last night she kept howling for no reason. He stayed up with her for a little longer until she finally fell asleep. He still wasn't sure what caused it, figuring that she must be worried like the others. It was still early in the morning, when he let her out to do her thing and saw Feliciano walking back from visiting Ludwig's house. Alfred waved to the shorter boy and Feli jogged over waving happily.

"Hi, Alfred!" Feliciano smiled brightly. "Thanks for making sure fratello got home safe!"

"No worries, I didn't do all that much."

"You did lots!" the Italian insisted. "If you weren't there, Lovi might still be out there looking!"

"I don't know," laughed the blonde. "He probably would've come home when he heard the wolves howling…although in hindsight, that was probably Jessie, here."

"Ve? Why would fratello have come home?"

"Because he thought he heard wolves?"

"Oh, fratello's not afraid of wolves!" Feliciano gave his usual sunny smile.

"Huh?" It was Alfred's turn to be confused now.

"This one time, a wolf got into our backyard when we were kids!" explained Feli. "It was scary, I think it was rabid…"

"What happened?" Alfred asked, he hadn't heard this story before.

"Lovi gave it this _scaaaaary_ look and it ran away!" the Italian scrunched up his face to demonstrate.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah! He was amazing!" boasted the boy. "His face was so intense it even gave him a headache later!"

"That's really something!" the blonde smiled back and changed the topic. "Hey, why are you up so early?"

"Oh, I was delivering some breakfast to Ludwig. I heard the search party got back really late."

"That's really nice of you. Did they have any luck?"

Feliciano's face fell in disappointment.

* * *

Ludwig was exhausted from looking for his brother, but managed to convince himself that Gilbert was fine. There were many other options besides the popular "kidnapping and "lost" theories circulating through town. Gil loved hunting and fishing in the woods, it's not unlikely he wanted to make a trip of it. Antonio also liked the woods and was known to go hiking and rock-climbing often. He would have been all for it.

While Fran didn't like the woods or anything beyond his rose garden in general, it's still possible he went too. He may have finally agreed to try it out (Gil could be persistent when he wanted something) or he could have been tricked or kidnapped, but by his own friends, not criminals.

Countless theories swam through Ludwig's brain to reassure him that the trio was fine. Statistically, they had a better chance of going out for fun and logically, they had a better chance of surviving any bad situation that might spring up with Gilbert and Antonio present.

It was early afternoon when he got a call from Feliciano about gathering to look for the boys again. Ludwig told him to have the others gather what they need, especially water to stay hydrated, meet in the town square and they'd get to right to work.

"Ve~ Can we meet by Tulipan instead?" Feli asked. "Lovi said he had something he wanted to show us on a trail near there."

"That should be fine," Ludwig nodded. The search party led by the adults hadn't covered that area of the woods as well yet. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Lud~!" his friend exclaimed and they disconnected.

The German boy went back to checking over his travel pack. It didn't need much adjusting from its use last night. Ludwig uncapped his water bottle and walked to the kitchen to refill it, as well as a back-up one, should any of his friends forget theirs (coughFelicough).

"Bruder…please be safe…"

* * *

About thirty minutes later, the gang (minus the resident hero) gathered in front of Tulipan restaurant. Matthew explained to the others that Alfred was still napping from his adventure last night.

"It's alright, that can't be helped," Ludwig stated. "Lovino? Did you two find anything last night? Your brother was saying you had something to show us."

"Of course we found something, potato bastard!" the tsundere snapped. "It's about a mile north of Tulipan."

"Lead the way," Ludwig gestured towards the forest. He was used to Lovino's permanently grumpy attitude by now. This would be the easiest (and quietest) way to get to the spot.

Not sparing the German a glance back, Lovino grabbed his brother's arm and dragged him in the direction of the path. He figured if the potato-sucking jackass was going to be an arrogant prick on top of everything else Lovi hated him for, he wouldn't let him walk next to Feli. That'll show him.

Ludwig sighed and fell in step with Kiku. He hoped it would be a short trip.

* * *

By the time they got to the clearing, it was mid-afternoon. The group had to stop several times for Feli to play with the forest creatures (he was convinced that the owl he saw was Hedwig and the fawn was Bambi) as well as a food break ten minutes into their walk because Feliciano thought he might die of hunger otherwise. Upon leaving the rest area, they had to backtrack to find Matt, who had a tendency to get lost if he wasn't in the middle of the group. Normally he walked with Alfred or Lovino, but since his brother wasn't there and his friend was busy showing up Ludwig, the poor Canadian had to fend for himself. He _knew_ he should have brought Kumajiro.

It got worse when they got to the clearing, or at least where the clearing should have been. Several trees had been knocked down, including the bloodstained one, covering the entire area. Lovino searched, but he couldn't find it among the other battered trees. There was barely enough room to move between the trunks either. Being in such a destroyed state, it was next to impossible to show the group the area of impact on the tree with blood, if it even existed anymore.

"It looks like a windstorm took some of them out," noted Ludwig.

"Cazzo! They were definitely standing last night!" Lovino argued. "I just saw them!"

"Could this be a part of a prank the boys are pulling?" Kiku wondered out loud between camera shots. He figured he'd take enough pictures on his trusty camera just in case they needed them later.

"I-I don't think a normal person could have done this…" Matthew shook his head.

"I suppose not," Kiku mused, stepping over a smaller tree trunk to get a better shot. He couldn't help but notice a strange chill in the air. It was warm enough for shorts and t-shirts, but Kiku couldn't contain the shiver rising from his spine.

"I've heard that sudden bursts of high-powered winds are common in this region, particularly near the mountains like we are now," Ludwig went over his theory. "It's possible a storm kicked up at some point this morning and damaged the area…"

"Do you even _want_ to find your brother?!" Lovino all but screamed at him. He was getting royally sick of Ludwig's strictly analytical approach to finding the Bad Touch Trio. Judging by his expressionless face, it was almost like he didn't care, it was just another problem to rationally solve. Lovino believed that if he had to stay there and look at the German's blank face any longer _he'd_ smash one of the trees down himself.

Feliciano watched his brother storm off towards the trail and followed him in worry. Ludwig, Kiku, and Matthew were left along in the clearing. There was an awkward silence. It was common for Lovino to blow up at people, especially Ludwig, but it was a sore subject he brought up this time. No one knew what to say. It really didn't help that this was a quieter group to begin with. Eventually, Matthew spoke up, trying to change the subject.

"U-Um, Al did mention a lot of the same things Lovino did…" Matthew added, then got flustered. "N-Not about what he just said of course, but the clearing—"

"We all know how he likes to exaggerate things…" the other blond waved off his concern with a sweatdrop.

"Maybe," Matthew began. "But where are the footprints?"

The others looked at him strangely.

"We didn't find any that suggested my brother and his friends were here," responded Ludwig.

"I didn't mean the Bad Touch Trio…" Matthew turned to walk away. "…I was asking where my brother and Lovino's footprints were…"

Sure enough, the only footprints in the dirt were from this afternoon. There was no sign that anyone had been here in days, including Lovino and Alfred.

* * *

A/N – Dun, dun, dunnnnn! In case you didn't understand the first part, Lovi woke up in the late morning. When we cut to Alfred, his section happened before Lovi's did to fill you in on his meeting with Feli. Ludwig's part is back to around the same time as Lovi's.

In the process of making this chapter, I had to make a map of Karitoru to help keep my directions/locations straight. If things get confusing or you don't quite follow where the hell people or buildings are, let me know! I might end up posting a map of sorts after a few more key areas are introduced.

Death Omen Counter - 2: A dog howling for no reason and seeing an owl during the day.

**Translations**

Shiki – "corpse demon" basically a Vampire. (Jap.)

Fratello – "Brother" (It.)

Ohayo – "Good morning" informal, as Kiku's known Lovi for awhile (Jap.)

Karitoru – "to reap" or "to harvest" (Jap.)

Tulipan – "Tulip" (Sp.)

Idiota – "Idiot" (It.)

Bruder - "Brother" (Ger.)

Cazzo – "Shit/Fuck/Damn/Generic Curse Word" (It.)


	5. Sickness

**Shiki**

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

_Warnings: AU, Vampires/Shiki, multiple pairings (boy/boy being prevalent), coarse language, violence, and excessive references to blood (because there's Vamps, so…duh)._

Okay, so the first section of this chapter almost took longer than the _three_ following it :/ I had been typing along and for some reason England's Devil Summoning Song got stuck in my head, which was the complete _opposite_ of what I was trying to write, but because my brain made a connection with the fire I had to stop several times to listen to the song and then listen to something else to better fit the mood. I failed. Miserably. I can't even take that section seriously anymore. Sorry, Yao!

* * *

oOo

* * *

Late at night, Yao was sitting in the town shrine before a great pillar of flame. It was nearly twice the size required for this matter. He didn't often go to such lengths for a fire divination that didn't involve a festival or major catastrophe, but made an exception for this case. Yao closed his eyes to clear his mind. After a few deep breaths, he opened them and stared into the flame.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Yao was blessed with fire sight. If certain conditions were met, he could view the past or even foresee the future from the flames using his own version of pyromancy. From what he could tell only Kiku and Mei displayed a similar kind of supernatural sight, but overlooked it for some reason. Kiku's sight involved direct contact with a person to see their true feelings/intentions, according to their father. For this reason, Kiku grew to dislike touching others or being touched himself until he learned how to control/ignore his power. Mei's required very little external stimuli, such as fire or touch. She was just able to get 'flashes' inside her mind if she thought on something for long enough or was confronted with a dangerous situation. It was more sporadic, but it was very accurate. However, since she didn't need anything to use her gift and it was harder to prove, she just deemed it her 'woman's intuition.'

The growing unease in the town and himself had brought Yao to the shrine that night. It had been over a week since the group of boys known as the Bad Touch Trio disappeared. Searching out visions from the roaring fire was Yao's way of contributing to the search.

He missed having his father with him to help him make sense of the more obscure visions. Somehow is father was always able to tell if a vision was of the past or the future. Yao was still learning that, but was skilled enough to see the visions clearly. Which is why he was so surprised by how unclear his fire sight was today.

All Yao was able to make out was three orbs – red, green, and blue. They bobbed around the fire energetically for a short while. Finally, they floated towards the rising darkness and were swallowed whole.

As the vision faded, Yao prayed that the three missing boys didn't meet a similar fate. Sometimes even the darkest of visions could be avoided if action was taken immediately. Yao debated the different ways to interpret what he just witnessed, finally deciding on the trio needing to be found as soon as possible to avoid terrible misfortune. If someone could find them before they wandered into the darkness, they would be safe.

* * *

oOo

* * *

Even with the town losing hope after every new search resulting the same as the first, Alfred F. Jones was able to keep spreading his nearly endless supply of optimism around. He knew that if people started giving up now, there would be no hope for Francis, Antonio, and Gilbert. The hero didn't want to see everyone close to them (himself included) be brought down and bury his cousin and friends before their time. As long as somebody, even just one person, believed in the cause and kept looking for the boys, they'd find them eventually.

"How can you be so damned optimistic all of the time?" Lovino asked him. They had just returned from another search and were killing time at Troll Bridge before dinner.

"Because I'm the hero!"

"Oh, right," the brunette rolled his eyes. "How could I forget?"

Lovino glanced back towards town and the familiar siluette of his brother caught his eye. Even from that distance, Feliciano was waving wildly at his brother and calling him over for dinner. Must be pasta. Lovino sighed and pushed himself off of the railing he was resting his arms on. He was about to take off, but looked over his shoulder at Alfred uncertainly.

"You okay?" Alfred asked. His friend's face looked a little red. Hopefully, he wasn't coming down with anything.

"I-I just wanted to thank you for keeping the search going," he blurted out. "A lot of people have already given up hope, but you…you give me hope. So thanks."

Alfred was surprised at the sudden compliment, quickly breaking into a smile.

"It's easy when I have people like you helping me too, Lovi!"

"I-I told you not to call me that, bastardo!" Lovino looked away quickly to hide his blush intensifying. "See ya."

"See ya!" Alfred waved at the Italian's retreating form and leaned back against the bridge, smiling to himself. "After all…you're the one who inspired me to be a hero…"

* * *

oOo

* * *

Ten years ago and the Bad Touch Trio were still the biggest and baddest kids on the block (and considering that the village's equivalent of a block was basically all of Karitoru itself, that's saying something). They thought nothing of sneaking treats behind their parents' backs, causing mayhem with their surprisingly elaborate pranks, rushing into the wilderness (Francis watching from a safe distance) and teasing the younger kids. This all changed the day they decided to pick on Alfred, Matthew, and Feliciano.

Alfred couldn't remember exactly what they had been doing in the town square – playing with cars, trading pokemon, or something – when the infamous trio sauntered over and demanded the treats Feli had brought with him for his friends. Normally Feliciano was willing to share, but the way Gilbert 'asked nicely' resembled a starving, rabid bear. Things were looking bad (they needed those snacks to get them through until lunchtime!) but their savior quickly arrived.

Lovino intervened by stomping over with a strong front and a scowl on his face (that would later become his typical expression), telling the older boys to back off or else.

Naturally, the Bad Touch Trio didn't take him seriously and basically laughed in his face. Antonio even had the nerve to ruffle his hair.

"Little Lovi, what are you going to do? You're sil—"

"—I'll tell your Mama that you were the one who ruined her carnations."

Antonio retracted his hand as if it was burned.

"Y-You can't do that, Lovi! Mama will cook me into churros!"

"Good, then I'll help her and eat you for dinner!" the shorter brunette said with an evil grin.

"N-No…" Antonio stammered, shocked by his little henchman.

"I've got this, mon ami…" Francis patted his friends shoulder and faced the scowling six year old. "Lovino—"

He didn't get to finish.

"I'll wait until you fall asleep and then dump a bucket of mud on your stupid head!"

Francis' eyes widened.

"There'll be bugs and worms and frogs crawling around in it!"

Francis decided that would be a good time to back the fuck off.

"Listen kid, it looks like you need to be taught a lesson," Gilbert began, cracking his knuckles.

Despite his small size, Lovino rushed over first, kicking the albino as hard as he could in the shin.

"Die, potato!"

"O-Ow! What the hell?!" Gil toppled over and clutched his leg.

"You bastardos leave and don't bother my brother or his friends again," Lovino crossed his arms.

Antonio half-heartedly pulled Gilbert away with Francis, cooing about how cute his little henchman looks when upset. Francis on the other hand practically dragged his friends away before the kid exploded and threw mud at him. He had just washed his hair and everything!

"We won't forget this!" howled the red-eyed boy.

From that point on, Alfred idolized the hell out of Lovino, but didn't know he was sick. The present-day Alfred smiled sadly, thinking it should have been obvious – Lovi didn't go to their school or play with them very often. It took a scary experience to reveal it to him, right here on Troll Bridge.

* * *

oOo

* * *

Feliciano had mentioned how his brother sometimes got to go walking in the woods with a grown-up. He thought it would be so cool to see the woods. Feli told the others how his fratello really likes it there and brings him wildflowers he finds.

This led to Alfred becoming obsessed with the idea of going somewhere that Lovino loves. Alfred had gradually been trying to learn as much about Lovi as he could. The blonde now asked for macaroni at every meal, practiced making a "scary" scowly face in his spare time, and even got his mouth washed out with soap after repeating something he heard his hero say. The experience was wasted on Alfred, who didn't see how anything Lovino said could be that bad. He wanted to be just like him. Alfred decided that no matter what, he'd see the woods too.

One sunny afternoon, Alfred suggested they explore the area beyond Troll Bridge.

"I-I don't know, Al…" said Matthew. "I don't think it's such a good idea…"

He was immediately ignored.

"Ve~! You mean the forest?!" Feliciano chirped excitedly. "Where Lovi gets to go?"

"Yeah, we're tough enough!" Alfred crossed his arms with a grin. "We can go see the woods and bring Lovi back flowers like he does for you. We can do it!"

Feliciano was bouncing with excitement. If his friends were with him, he could be brave too! He couldn't wait to bring his fratello flowers and show him he's a big boy now. Matthew was still reluctant to go, but didn't want to leave his brother and friend in case they got into trouble… which was highly likely knowing those two.

They left shortly after, Lovino catching sight of them just before they left. He was supposed to be getting his brother for lunch. Normally, this wasn't necessary. The only time Feliciano _wasn't_ craving pasta was when he had a belly full of it.

"Hi, Lovi!" the younger Vargas waved from across the field. "We're going to bring you flowers from the woods! We'll be back later!"

Lovino shouted something back, warning them not to go because it's dangerous. The three boys didn't listen and Lovi's shouts were soon drowned out by his coughing.

"Is he okay?" Matthew asked.

"He's fine, he just does that sometimes," Feli shrugged.

"We should go so we can be back in time for lunch and amaze him!" Alfred insisted.

Watching his brother and friends run off for the forest filled Lovino with horror. He glanced around, but there were no adults around to help. Lovino took a deep breath and began running after them as fast as he could, hoping to catch up. In seconds, his heart started racing and his breath only came out in gasps. The others took no notice of this and thought it was a game. They ran faster and faster, never stopping, even when the angry big brother yelled at them to.

Alfred was elated. He got to play a game with Lovino _and_ see the big scary woods all in one day! He didn't know anything was wrong until he glanced over his shoulder and didn't see Lovino.

Even then, Alfred felt like something was wrong and stood on top of a bench to see where his hero had gone. He panicked when he saw him hunched over in pain, struggling to breathe. The others saw this too and began running back to him.

"Lovi!" Feliciano cried out, tears stinging his eyes. He watched his brother collapse to the ground.

The three boys crowded around him. They glanced around at each other and watched helplessly as Lovino clawed at his throat, coughing and doing whatever he could to get air into his lungs. The full weight of the situation crashed onto Alfred like a wave. Lovino was in danger and he had no clue what to do.

"L-Lovi!" Alfred choked on his name, kneeling beside him. "W-What's wrong?!"

Lovino could only cough in response, gasping for breath. Feliciano was crying by then, blubbering about how Lovi can't breathe sometimes.

"No, Lovi!" Alfred sniffled. "You can't be hurt! You're the hero!"

"I…I'm…not…a hero…I'm…sick…" the Italian managed to say between breaths.

The words scared Alfred, who realized his friend chased them knowing he was sick. The blonde was wracked with guilt that his idea caused Lovi to get sick. A cold lump formed in the pit of his stomach. He watched as Feli joined him beside Lovino, taking his hand into his smaller, trembling one.

"M-Maybe we should get someone?" Matthew suggested, tears threatening to fall.

"I can't leave fratello!"

"B-But…"

Alfred quickly leapt into action, picking up Lovino and carrying him piggyback on the trail leading to town. Feliciano ran ahead and got his Grandfather, who came running back within minutes. Romulus picked up Lovino and took him in the direction of their house. Before leaving the boys behind in his long strides, he managed to thank Alfred.

Sad blue eyes watched the man carry his friend off. Alfred held his tummy, feeling worse about the fact that Romulus thanked him for making Lovi sick like that. His stomach turned and he grimaced. He didn't want macaroni for lunch that day. He didn't want lunch at all. He didn't want to eat ever again.

Later, after soothing away tears and worries with hugs and kisses, Mrs. Jones told the boys about Lovino's illness. She explained that he has a weak heart, which makes running and jumping very hard for him. Sometimes he has attacks like today where he can't breathe well because his heart hurts.

Alfred visited Lovino later that evening and started bawling that it was all his fault.

"Idiota."

"M-My mommy told me about your heart not working very good," he sobbed.

Lovino stiffened.

"I'm so sorry for making you get sick!" Alfred glomped the boy sitting up in bed. "I-If it makes up for it, you can have my heart so you can play with everybody again!"

"Do…Do you even know what that means, stupido?" Lovino glanced away so the blonde wouldn't see how embarrassed he was. "People need their hearts to live!"

"B-But I never want your heart to hurt like that again, so you can have mine anyway."

"Idiota…" Lovino sighed, but raised his hands slightly to hug his friend back.

* * *

oOo

* * *

It was a little after sunset when Ludwig finally returned to the village. He passed Troll Bridge and lowered his flashlight – he wouldn't be needing it much longer with the village lights almost in view. Blocking his path to Karitoru was what Ludwig assumed to be a hunter or fisherman without equipment. Thinking nothing of it, the blonde continued on the path, nodding politely to the man.

He noticed that as he got closer to the strange man, he felt a little uneasy. The man started to behave like a crazy animal with his limbs constantly twitching and jerking about. The hunter (?) approached him with surprising speed and when he was closer, Ludwig noticed that he reeked of every terrible smell he ever encountered combined into one horrible body odor.

The man's clothes were ripped , his greasy hair unkept, and his eyes hidden under the brim of his hat. Ludwig tried to step around him, but the man leapt in front of him again, breathing heavily. His head tilted to the side, staring at Ludwig with a dark expression. Sensing danger, Ludwig casually slipped a hand into his pocket, fingers circling around the can of pepper spray, specially formulated for bears. Ludwig figured if this man's head craned any closer to his own, he'd be asking for it.

Suddenly, the man jerked back as if he'd been struck. Without warning he shot past Ludwig into the forest. Ludwig carefully watched him go, wondering if he was bitten by a rabid animal or got into some bad mushrooms. He had looked so frail and pale that he didn't seem to be a threat, but was still suspicious.

Ludwig tucked his can of 'Bear Mace' (as his brother calls it) away and straightened his collar, fingers brushing over the necklace Feliciano had lent him as a charm. Even in the early moonlight, the crucifix shimmered back.

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oOo

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A/N – Dear god, if I didn't have Ludwig in this, the plot would never move forward! Every time I start to write about Lovi or Alfred, I get so _stuck_ on them and ramble on for pages. Especially when they're adorable little kids. Dammit…

Death Omen Counter – None this time, just a boat full of chibi goodness!

**Translations**

Shiki – "corpse demon" basically a Vampire. (Jap.)

Fratello – "Brother" (It.)

Karitoru – "to reap" or "to harvest" (Jap.)

Idiota – "Idiot" (It.)

Mon ami – "My friend" (Fr.)

Bastardo – "Bastard" (It.)

Stupido – "Stupid" (It.)


	6. Cold

**Shiki**

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

_Warnings: AU, Vampires/Shiki, multiple pairings (boy/boy being prevalent), coarse language, violence, and excessive references to blood (because there's Vamps, so…duh)._

Lots of jumping around in this chapter to help fill you in on more characters. As usual, Alfred managed to sneak in some hinted Romerica, but I only let him ramble for a page or so.

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oOo

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Having spent most of the afternoon helping his friends search for the three missing boys, Alfred sat at his desk at ten at night, finally ready to finish (cough, start, cough) his homework. He was looking over his Culinary Arts homework with all the enthusiasm of a narcoleptic in a basketball game. The blonde remembered how he used to ask the Vargas brothers cooking questions when he first started taking cooking classes a few years ago.

One time he called their house late at night (his Call of Duty team deathmatch went longer than planned) and Feliciano answered. He could tell the Italian was a little sleepy, but he was also still easily able to answer Alfred's question and happy to chat for a bit after. Or at least he was until Lovino had entered the room.

"What the hell are you doing talking to someone about lasagna this late at night?" Alfred heard him ask. The older brother sounded more annoyed than he did surprised, because this _was_ Feliciano. It would really only be shocking if he was trading government secrets with someone on line 2.

"Oh, hi, fratello!" Feli greeted him. "Alfred had a question about it, so I wanted to help~!"

Cursing was heard as the boy with a bad case of the tsundere grabbed the phone.

"You wanna tell me why this couldn't wait until tomorrow, hamburger-bastard?"

"Sorry, Lovino!" Alfred quickly apologized; he didn't want Lovi to be mad at him. "I thought I might forget by tomorrow and it was just a quick question."

Lovino wasn't impressed.

"I only called you guys because you're both so good at cooking…"

"Go get a pen and paper," growled the brunette.

"Huh? Why?"

"Just do it, jackass."

Some shuffling and Alfred told him he was ready. Lovino quickly gave him a 7 digit number.

"Got that, idiota?"

"Yeah, but I don't get what it has to do with my cooking question."

"It's my cellphone number," Lovino explained with an exasperated sigh. "You can call that with any late night questions, so you don't bother my brother while he's trying to sleep."

Alfred was ready to jump for joy at the fact that he could call Lovi whenever he wanted now. Over time, he made very good use of the gift he was given, much to Lovino's chagrin the few times he called at 11 PM asking how to properly sift a turkey or an equally ridiculous question.

The blonde chuckled at the memory and reached for his phone. If anyone could help him with his homework it was his Italian friend. Although he might be confused when Alfred started asking him questions that actually made sense.

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oOo

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The following day at school, Feliciano began daydreaming and looked out the window. He had been finding it hard to focus at school lately. The Italian had a lot on his plate with his friends missing, his remaining friends and family worrying, as well as his expectations as heir to the Vargas family business. Feli felt a little bad, but World History just wasn't grabbing his attention at the moment. He noticed an owl perched in a tree near the window. Strangely enough, the owl appeared to be watching him. Feliciano vaguely registers this as odd – an owl in the daytime…an owl staring at him…

'_Ve~ it's too bad he's gray_…' the Italian thought. '_He's not as cool-looking as Hedwig_…'

Suddenly, Feli began to feel a chill run through his body, causing him to shiver. He closed his eyes for the briefest moment and saw that the owl was gone when he opened them.

"Ve~?"

"Vargas! Are you paying attention?!" his teacher yelled.

"Y-Yes, sir!" Feliciano jumped in his seat. "You were just talking about General Fishsticks and Custard!"

Ludwig could only glance at his friend and facepalm.

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oOo

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The boys gathered in the main courtyard after school to search the woods yet again. A few students passing by saw their gear (maps, flashlights, and emergency pasta) and wished them good luck. Feliciano made sure everyone received their rations of spaghetti, but wasn't able to go because his dad needed him for what Lovino called 'Top Secret Vargas Heir Shit.'

"Does that entail paperwork or business meetings?" asked Kiku.

"That or they're going to sacrifice a goat," Lovino shrugged.

"That's horrible!" Matthew gasped. "Feliciano would hate doing all of those things…"

Lovino smirked at his grinning Canadian friend while Kiku pulled out a map of the area they would be searching today. He had diligently been marking off all the areas they'd previously searched for Antonio and the others. Kiku had also recorded the areas they found clues, such as Gilbert's watch and Francis' phone.

Ludwig informed the group they would be searching in the southwest area of the forest today. There weren't as many trails, but that would only encourage his brother if anything. Ludwig added that there were also several good fishing spots that Gilbert often took him to over the summer. Very few people knew about them, including the locals. The crack team of Kiku, Alfred, Matthew, and Lovino listened to him with varying degrees of interest before setting out.

They would search until dusk and still find nothing.

* * *

oOo

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Feliciano had very little interest in these 'business meetings' his father insisted he sit through every few weeks. He knew he still had a lot to learn before he took over the all-important family business, but he couldn't help it if the training portion of it bored him to tears.

Luckily for him, the meeting finished ahead of time and he was able to go meet the others at Troll Bridge. Feliciano sent a quick prayer heavenward that they were able to find something today. He hoped with all his heart that the three older boys were safe somehow.

He stopped his light jog as he neared the bridge and passed a man sitting on a bench. The man wasn't moving much, but Feli paid him no mind at first, his friends' safety being foremost on his brain. Feliciano leaned against the wooden bridge, eagerly waiting for his friends to return.

For some reason, Feliciano felt a bad feeling in the back of his brain. He tried, but he couldn't shake it off and after ten minutes it only grew. The amber-eyed boy wondered if it was the 'sixth sense' his mother used to talk about. She always told him that a strong sixth sense ran in her family and told her when there was danger. Feliciano never really noticed it until then, but Lovino always seemed to know when he was in trouble. Leora often joked that Lovi inherited her looks and her sixth sense. Ironically, Lovino and their father always insisted that he didn't and it was nonsense. It was one of the few things they ever agreed on.

All the same, Feliciano wondered if this is what it felt like and decided to check on the man on the bench. It would be dark soon. A bench on the outskirts of the woods wasn't exactly the safest place to be.

"Um, excuse me, sir?" Feliciano walked over. "Sir?"

The man didn't respond to his words, so Feliciano hesitantly tapped his shoulder and he toppled to the ground. Poor Feliciano wasn't able to get over how cold his skin felt as the man fell and they brushed hands. This caused him to panic. Was the man dead?! The Italian ran back to town to get help, shrieking the entire way.

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oOo

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He had failed once again.

Ludwig pushed open the door of his empty house and greeted the portrait of his family members on the wall. His father was probably still out searching for Gilbert while his mother was still at work. Ludwig noticed that she had begun picking up extra shifts at the family-owned mechanic shop. He wasn't sure if she was trying to help cover for her son or if she was just trying to keep busy. Kicking off his shoes, he made his way to the stairway leading to his room.

He didn't feel like eating. Ludwig only had eyes for his pillow. All the extra hours he had put in to scouring the woods was taking its toll on him. The blonde briskly walked towards his room. He passed his brother's room and heard a faint chirping sound.

_That's right…Bruder's pet bird…_

Ludwig reluctantly pushed the door open and flipped the light on. He had been feeding and tending to Gilbird ever since his actual owner vanished. The small yellow bird hopped on his perch, happy to see another person. It had been hours since his master's owners/parents had left the house and they hadn't even spared him a second glance. Gilbird was eager to see anyone at this point. The room was so dark all of the time now; his master never let it get that dark. Of course, his master always let him ride around on his shoulder or head, instead of cooping him up in a cage all day too. Gilbird looked up at Gilbert's second, less awesome pet, The Big Blonde Thing. He seemed nice enough (and was really good about feeding him), but the bird wasn't ready to trust him enough to take rides on yet. Once his master got back, he would have to convince him to let The Big Blonde Thing go on more walks with them.

Ludwig watched the animal chirp with excitement before pecking at its dinner. The blonde couldn't help but wonder if the bird was capable of feeling lonely. Did he notice that Gilbert hadn't been around in weeks? Could he tell the difference between Gilbert and another person feeding him? Did he…miss him somehow? With the amount of attention the albino gave the little bird, Ludwig suspected that he did.

By now, the blue-eyed babysitter was accustomed to mentally blocking out the contents of the room and all their painful memories of Gilbert. He had worked hard to steel himself against it and not let his emotions get the better of him. His brother had to be out there. Gil was alive and Ludwig had to be strong until he found him. He knew if he let something as simple as a lone sock left out on his brother's floor was enough to make his throat tighten and his chest heavy, he'd be a wreak in no time. But still…

Would it have killed Gilbert to put away his dirty laundry?

* * *

oOo

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Inside the local hospital, Dr. Kazimir Braginski was going over the results with a nurse. It was getting late, but his family was used to his work schedule. They were more surprised when they actually _did_ see him for dinner. Not that it bothered him. Years of endless hospital shifts and a rocky relationship with everyone he was close to had made him into a rather cold man.

"Here you are, Doctor," the nurse handed him a clipboard. "He was discovered by a boy at Toll Bridge."

"Hmph…all symptoms match the others."

"Yes, signs of anemia, heatstroke, and sensitivity to light…probably due to the heatstroke."

"Dammit…that's the third one," Kazimir growled, slamming the clipboard onto the nearby table. "What the hell is going on?"

Outside the door, cold violet eyes gleamed as their owner listened in on the conversation. It was clearly meant for the two occupants of the room, but they had foolishly left the door open a crack. Small enough to hide his presence but large enough for the doctor-in-training to hear. They were trying to keep whatever was infecting the townsfolk a secret…and Ivan hated it when people kept secrets from him.

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oOo

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A/N – For those of you wondering, Kazimir Braginski is basically a human version of General Winter. He's also Ivan, Katyusha, and Natalia's dad for purposes of this story. Oh, man…

For some reason, the hardest part of this fic to write so far has been the bit about Gilbird.

Death Omen Counter – Again with the owls in the daytime.

**Translations**

Shiki – "corpse demon" basically a Vampire. (Jap.)

Fratello – "Brother" (It.)

Idiota – "Idiot" (It.)

Bastardo – "Bastard" (It.)

Kazimir – "To destroy peace" (Rus.) Invented name for the humanized General Winter. I thought it was fitting.


End file.
